BRYCE ON POLITICS
– How I graded our federal government this year.
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As 2018 comes to a close, I thought I would grade how our federal government did this past year, and ask if we truly got our money’s worth:
115th Congress – Grade=D – Blew it due to weak leadership; should have done much more. The Brett Kavanaugh hearing was an embarrassing political nightmare we didn’t need. Congress let the country down on immigration reform, health care and financial responsibility. Then again, what’s new? Now it’s the Democrats’ turn to show their incompetence. As Will Rogers said, “We all joke about Congress but we can’t improve on them. Have you noticed that no matter who we elect, he is just as bad as the one he replaces?”
President – Grade=A – Did great considering he had to work under extreme pressure from an incompetent Congress, a resistance movement delaying his every move, and a news media bent on his destruction. Mr. Trump proved to be a worthy adversary to push back against his detractors, something few presidents knew how to do. The Mueller investigation proved itself to be a witch hunt and that we were investigating the wrong people. President Trump persevered and made inroads in appointing judges, a Supreme Court justice and new appointments for his administration, revising trade agreements and stoking the economy, and keeping his campaign promises, something he received little credit for.
Supreme Court – Grade=A – Finally back to a full court, but remains somewhat partisan, always will be. They ruled on such things as the Presidential Travel Ban, Immigration, Internet Sales Taxes, Voting Rights, Gay Rights and Religion, Sports Betting and more. Nothing earth-shattering, but they did their job without much fanfare.
News Media – Grade=F – as in “F”ake News. The “F”ourth Estate has let the American people down due to their partisanship and hatred of the president. Americans no longer trust the press and desperately seek information from other sources, including social media. As in 2016, the political polls again let us down and were incapable of predicting accurate results. For those concerned with collusion, start with the relationship between the news media and polls.
Happy New Year and let us hope 2019 is better. Frankly, I am not holding my breath as we will likely experience two years of Congressional gridlock, as the Democrats continue to resist the President. God only knows when the government will reopen.
Bottom-line: No, I do not believe the country got it’s money’s worth from the government this year. Our political polarity is preventing us from achieving greatness. The time is rapidly approaching when we must morally decide what interpretation of America is proper, left or right.
Again, quoting Will Rogers, “Last year we said, ‘Things can’t go on like this’, and they didn’t, they got worse.”
Keep the Faith!
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Tim Bryce is a writer and the Managing Director of M&JB Investment Company (M&JB) of Palm Harbor, Florida and has over 40 years of experience in the management consulting field. He can be reached at [email protected]
For Tim’s columns, see: timbryce.com
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Copyright © 2018 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.
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